Imminent Peril

Imminent Peril is a historical fiction novel, set during the Civil War, that tells the story of the Wolverine brigade of Michigan's Fifth Cavalry. The characters fight in the bloodiest and most critical battles of the war, and also spend time in the infamous Andersonville prison camp, concluding their service with an ill-fated passage on the Sultana riverboat. The soldiers in the story are drawn from the actual Union Army ranks. It is a story of hardship and how much humans can endure.

Imminent Peril is a novel of the Civil War that tells the story of the young men of the famous Wolverine Brigade, of Michigan's 5th cavalry. The story is told in the form of a memoir written by a fictitious common soldier caught up in that disastrous conflict. His comrades who fought the battles and the identities of their famous leaders are rendered as accurately as the author could make them. All of the enlisted men who appear in these pages were drawn from the actual ranks of the Union Army. The underlying humanity and stoic response of these characters as they endure unspeakable horrors offers insight into perpetually consequential events in our nation's history, but holds special relevance to the COVID 19 health crisis raging as this book was composed. At the time of publication, the U.S. had seen more than 1,000,000 lives stolen. The only other times the citizenry has suffered so grievously on American soil were during the 1918/1919-influenza pandemic, which registered 675,000 deaths, and the Civil War, which saw more than 620,000 soldiers perish unspeakably at the hands of their fellow countrymen. Given the size of the nation at the time, almost every family experienced a grievous loss. The level of this tragedy was as incalculable then as it is now. The Civil War defined the American scene and its culture for the decades that followed. Our nation's reconstruction following the COVID-19 pandemic will be an equally important period.

Myles P. Lash had a distinguished career in healthcare consulting and hospital administration. He was the founder of Lash Group, which is still operating as a leading health services advisory firm. Myles held senior hospital administration positions in Ohio, Virginia and the District of Columbia. He is a graduate of Wayne State University and the University of Michigan. He interrupted his retirement during the COVID 19 pandemic to write this epic story of survival and human will. He meticulously researched the Civil War experience of Michigan's Fifth Cavalry, and uncovered unbelievable detail about the suffering and tragedy that befell this unit. Mr. Lash lives in Fisher Island, FL and Bethesda, MD with his wife, Linda, and their dog, Waldo.